Harry Kane has become the first English player to win the Ballon d'Or since Michael Owen in 2001, claiming the award for world's best player at a ceremony held in London. The 33-year-old Bayern Munich striker's achievement ends a quarter-century wait for an English winner and marks only the fifth time an Englishman has claimed the honour. According to BBC Sport, Kane's victory came despite his club failing to win either the Champions League or World Cup last season.
Kane joins Stanley Matthews (1956), Bobby Charlton (1966) and Kevin Keegan (1978 and 1979) as English Ballon d'Or winners. Scotland's Denis Law (1964) and Northern Ireland's George Best (1968) are the other United Kingdom winners. Kane defeated Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé to claim the award, with The Athletic's survey of 100 football figures showing Kane leading with 1,103 points, ahead of Yamal on 991 and Mbappé on 728.
I am almost speechless. Being here in London has made it extra special,Kane said at the ceremony.
Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I can imagine it was tough this year. [There are] some world-class players in the room tonight. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees tonight. [It is] an impressive showing of determination and what hard work can really achieve.
Kane had previously targeted the award after winning Germany's footballer of the year award, following an extraordinary 2025-26 season in which his goalscoring prowess reached unprecedented levels for the Bavarian club.
How Kane's Record-Breaking Season Unfolded
The Bayern Munich striker produced one of the most prolific campaigns in modern football history. Kane scored 61 goals in 51 club matches during the 2025-26 season, the most any Bayern player has ever achieved in a single campaign. When including his 12 goals for England—six of which came at the World Cup—his total reached 73 goals plus eight assists across 65 matches in all competitions.
His 61-goal tally for Bayern matched Cristiano Ronaldo's record of 61 goals for Real Madrid, set 11 years earlier, making it the second-highest individual season total in European football history. Only Lionel Messi's 82 goals for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011-12 surpasses this figure. Kane's output exceeded that of Gerd Müller (72 in 1972-73), Ronaldo (66 in both 2011-12 and 2014-15), former Brazil striker Ronaldo (66 in 1996-97), Erling Haaland (64 in 2022-23) and Luis Suárez (64 in 2015-16).
In the Bundesliga, Kane finished as top scorer with 36 goals, a margin of 17 clear of the second-placed player. He added 14 goals in the Champions League for the beaten semi-finalists, 10 in the German Cup—including a hat-trick in the 3-0 final victory over Stuttgart—and one in the German Super Cup. No player has ever scored so many goals in a season for Bayern, a club that has previously boasted legendary goalscorers including Gerd Müller, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Robert Lewandowski.
Kane's 19-goal margin over the next-highest scorer across Europe's top five leagues demonstrated his dominance. Former England striker Alan Shearer told BBC Sport:
The winner of the Ballon d'Or should be Harry Kane. His numbers for the last 12 to 18 months have been absolutely sensational for Bayern and for England. For that reason, he should get it.
Fellow former Three Lions player Danny Murphy added:
His goalscoring has been relentless, brilliant. He's had one of the best seasons of his career and it'll be a great reward for him if he gets the trophy. He's been brilliant at Bayern Munich since he's been there, adapted really well and he's been the best centre forward in the world for the last 12 months.
Why Winning Without Major Trophies Is Unusual
Kane's victory stands out because he did not win either the World Cup or Champions League last season, achievements that have historically dominated Ballon d'Or voting. The award was restricted to European players from its inception in 1956 until 1995, when it opened to all nationalities worldwide.
Since that expansion, the Ballon d'Or has been awarded to a World Cup winner in four of the seven World Cup years, including Messi in 2023 following the winter 2022 tournament. However, that marked the first such occurrence since 2006. Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modrić all won the award in non-World Cup years without claiming that trophy.
Kane becomes only the fifth player in the past 20 years to win the Ballon d'Or without claiming either the World Cup, Champions League or a European Championship or Copa América. Messi achieved this feat three times, Ronaldo once, and now Kane joins them. Yamal, who won the World Cup with Spain, had been considered one of the leading contenders but finished second to Kane.
Kane's achievement is particularly remarkable given that Bayern Munich last won the Ballon d'Or through a club player in 1981, when Karl-Heinz Rummenigge claimed the honour. The German double—Bundesliga and German Cup—represented Kane's trophy haul for the season, though this more than doubled his career total after winning the Bundesliga the previous year.
Last year's award went to Paris St-Germain and France's Ousmane Dembélé, whose Champions League victory helped secure his victory. Kane's success demonstrates that extraordinary individual performance can overcome the absence of these major collective honours, though the Ballon d'Or website mistakenly published separate winner articles for Kane, Yamal and Mbappé before the ceremony, then removed them, with organizers stating the prepared profiles did not reveal the results.
Can Kane Retain the Award Next Year?
Kane has already begun his pursuit of back-to-back Ballon d'Or awards, having scored 10 goals in his opening 12 games for Bayern during the current season. Adding six goals in four Nations League matches for England brings his tally to 16 in 16 matches so far. Bayern remain unbeaten in both the Bundesliga and Champions League this season, positioning Kane well for another strong campaign.
Should Bayern win the Treble and Kane maintain his goal-a-game average, he would be difficult to overlook, particularly in a season without a World Cup, European Championship or Copa América. The last player other than Messi or Ronaldo to win consecutive Ballon d'Or awards was Marco van Basten in 1988 and 1989.
However, Kane faces stiff competition. Yamal will be hoping to claim the award after finishing second twice in consecutive years. The Barcelona winger has started the current season in exceptional form with 10 goals and 10 assists in 13 games across La Liga and the Champions League. Barcelona are currently among the favourites to win the Champions League, which could prove decisive. Yamal would become the youngest Ballon d'Or winner at age 20 if he claims the award next year, surpassing Brazilian Ronaldo's record of 21 when he won in 1997.
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappé will also harbour ambitions of winning for the first time, having recorded 14 goals in 13 appearances for club and country. Arsenal, who have never produced a Ballon d'Or winner, and Paris St-Germain are among the other frontrunners to win the Champions League, which could elevate their players' chances of claiming the award.
Kane's Status as an England Great
Kane's Ballon d'Or success comes as he continues to cement his legacy with the national team. He recently equalled Peter Shilton's 125-cap England record, establishing himself as one of the nation's greatest players. Already England's all-time leading goalscorer with 89 goals, Kane has been a cornerstone of the national team since his breakthrough.
His two-goal display against the Czech Republic demonstrated his continued importance to the team under Thomas Tuchel, revealing the attacking depth the manager has assembled following England's World Cup semi-final exit. Kane's performances at both club and international level have made him a serious contender for the title of England's greatest international player.
